Kaitlen Bean Wins State Championship in Discus

Prepsters from the Macon County Track & Field team competed in the TSSAA State Track and Field Meet this week held in Murfreesboro. There were three individuals and one relay team competing.

On Wednesday evening Sophomore Katie Swindle competed in the 3200m run. The final race had runners from the three grand divisions of the state and Swindle finished 4th in the contest with a time of 12:10.61.  Three of the top four runners were from middle Tennessee.

Thursday was a big day. Around 10 a.m. MCHS Seniors Kaitlen Bean and Michaela Thompson competed in the Discus throw. On her very first throw Bean posted a monster mark at 111 feet 9 inches and on her third throw she notched a distance over 107 feet. Bean’s toss was good enough to place her in elite company, becoming the fourth athlete from MCHS to win a State Championship, along with Stinson, Mahaney, and Voyles (all in track and field). It is the eighth state title for soon to be Macon County Sports Hall of Fame inductee Coach Glen Gattis. Michaela Thompson finished the meet in fourth place with a throw of 95 feet 4 inches. While she was able to throw over 100 feet on her final attempt, she scratched by stepping out of the circle. Later in the day Bean finished 5th in the Shot Put. She posted a distance of 32 feet 9 inches.

Thursday evening the first girls relay team from MCHS competed in the 4×800. Katie Swindle, Katie Hix, Jasmine Chaparro, Terra Pryor, along with alternate Logan Hernandez shattered their best relay time of the year and finished the race in 5th place. Finishing in 10:19.18, which is only 3 seconds from the school record which has stood since 1994, they bettered their sectional time by almost five seconds.

As a team MCHS finished in 9th place out of 45 schools competing in the state meet. Congratulations to these girls on a fine showing at the TSSAA State Track and Field Competition.